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Wednesday, April 06, 2016

March 2016 vs. March 2014 Reading Wrap-Up Throwdown

March 2016 was a slow reading month. The quality was great, so no complaints there, but the quantity was definitely down. I figured this was a side effect of the job transition, but then I thought, eh, let's look back a little.

Goodreads tells me that March is typically a slow month from me. I blame allergies. Well, I blame allergies for everything, really. Let's see how March 2016 and March 2014 shape up when they go head to head.

March 2014

Saga Volume 2 by Bryan K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

The Martian by Andy Weir

Chew Volume 2: International Flavor by John Layman and Rob Guillory

Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote

Let's see how well my crappy memory serves me...

Saga is one of my all-time fave comics series, so it should not reflect badly on the story that I've completely fallen off the map with it. I have volumes 4 and 5 locked and loaded on my e-reader, though of course I'd forgotten that completely until just now.

The Martian was a good read for me. I had some serious doubts through the first 40-50 pages but I eventually got onboard and thought it was a fun, fast read.

Chew is another favorite comics series and one of the first ones I really started back up with after a long comics reading absence post-graduate school. While I haven't been the greatest at keeping up with this one either, I feel an interlibrary loan coming on.

Other Voices, Other Rooms started out GREAT. I loved the Southern gothic flavor, and Capote is just such a good writer. Sadly, this one fell apart for as it meandered into the bizarre and surreal near the end.

March 2016

The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud

You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero

Dietland by Sarai Walker

I've already rambled and raved about most of these, but let's recap, shall we? I'll keep it as brief as I get.

The Woman Upstairs was a rage-filled delight. Awesome character development for such a short book.

You Are a Badass was part of this perfect storm of books that I found inspirational and life-changing.

Dietland was another woman power feast. I loved the assertiveness of it even if I had some issues with bits and pieces. A full review is coming

Overall, I really have to give this one to March 2016! I'm probably fairly biased, but these books were just sooooo full of the woman-power kick-assness that I really needed. See? I even did a YouTube video about Ass-Kicking Women Books if you want to know more of my thoughts on these.

Now let's get to some more nitty-gritty. The challenges.

Only one of the three of these books were my own damn books. That's kind of a fail, but I'm still happy with my progress over the course of the year. On the other hand two of these three were from my e-reader, so that's perfect for the Clean Your Reader challenge which wrapped up at the end of March.

21 comments:

I love how you compared the same month from multiple years! I'm going to start looking back at old recaps to see if there are any interesting trends, but I only started doing them monthly last year....so...I guess we'll get 2015 comparisons!

It's something I've gotten into more lately re comparisons. That's one of the things I love most about having kept a blog this long...it's like a reading journal in itself! I had to do a mix of looking at old posts and Goodreads since I'm fairly good at tracking Goodreads but less effective at reviewing everything here.

Gosh yes, and I wish I'd been able to get my head out of my ass and read Pratchett and DWJ this month, but I'm a slave to my own whims and moods. It's bad. I hope your coma isn't too bad and the Readathon shakes you out of it!

My month was okay. I'm just now working on my March wrap-up and it ended up being the best month I've had, so far this year (quantity-wise), but it still was not a normal month for me. I keep hoping there will be a dramatic upswing, at some point. Funny that you read Other Voices, Other Rooms in 2014! It did veer into the bizarre (love your wording, "meandered into the [...] surreal") but I think I was just so in love with his writing that I didn't care. Your reading sounds super fun!

Cheers for best months even if they're not the greatest best. I hope that upswing hits you when you least expect it (now). I need to dive into Simon's new book now that I finished The Regional Office is Under Attack. I also need to read more Capote. Even though I had issues with the ending of Other Voices, Other Rooms, he is just so so good.

This was fun! I am in kind of the same boat with Saga - I've got it all on my iPad but haven't taken the time to sit down and catch up. As for Chew - I have volume 4 out from the library and can't renew it so it'll get read soon.

I've stopped fretting about the number of books in any given month. As long as I've enjoyed what I read I call it a success.

I can't wait to hear what you think of Chew! I think I got through volume 3 before I fell off the map with it. I shouldn't fret, but it's one of those "want to read but can't seem to stay awake" things. lol

I tooootally urge you to try a video. It's fun! And thank you re: makeup! This is a super simple one-shadow kind of look. I keep meaning to do a post about it because it's one of my favorite quickie looks.

What a cool idea for a monthly summary! I know my summer and winter (Nov & Dec) months suck as far as quantity, but I would love to see how each month compares to the previous years. Now off to watch your video!

I got through 6 of my own damn books in March, which is awesome for me. But while my reading has been great, I went on a binge when Harper Collins Canada put all of the books in their March Madness tournament on sale and I bought 4. Plus I did the Reddit Gifts books exchange and added three more to the TBR that way. Oops. Oh well, I'll just have to buckle down in April!!